Victorian Gothic House Styles

Trevor Yorke

Description

Gothic is a potent word. For many people it conjures up images of dark, atmospheric castles, ruined abbeys, and horror stories set in misty graveyards. All this could not be further from the truth. Some 150 years ago Victorian Gothic architecture was a colourful, innovative and exciting departure from the foreign Classical styles that had been dominant for so long. It heralded a fresh, vibrant era for English architecture, representing the nation's growing stature and confidence in its own abilities and signalling a daring, new approach to building. In recent years its romance and flamboyance have found renewed favour with the public. Major examples such as the Midland Hotel, St Pancras, the Albert Memorial and the huge town halls in cities such as Liverpool, Manchester and Bradford are all well known. Recent treasures of discovery include Tyntesfield, the National Trust's country house in Somerset. But there are numerous, more subdued yet equally attractive examples of Victorian Gothic housing. They stand proudly in towns up and down England and are steadily being returned to their former glory by new owners. Trevor Yorke describes the importance of this period of architecture and shares the joy of its exuberance. His book will be welcomed by everyone with an interest in the Victorian Age and especially by those living in and restoring a Gothic Revival style house of their own.

Sujets

• History of architecture
• Residential area

Informations

• Publié par: Countryside Books
• Date de parution: 06 novembre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781846748363
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

H OUSE S TYLES

Trevor Yorke
First published 2012
© Trevor Yorke 2012
All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted without the prior permission of the publisher:
COUNTRYSIDE BOOKS
3 Catherine Road
Newbury, Berkshire

To view our complete range of books, please visit us at www.countrysidebooks.co.uk
ISBN 978 1 84674 304 7
Illustrations by the author
Designed by Peter Davies, Nautilus Design Produced through MRM Associates Ltd., Reading
Typeset by CJWT Solutions, St Helens Printed by Berforts Information Press, Oxford
C ONTENTS
I NTRODUCTION
Chapter 1
V ICTORIAN G OTHIC S TYLE
Definition and Origins
Chapter 2
V ICTORIAN G OTHIC H OUSES
Large Houses and their Architects
Chapter 3
V ICTORIAN G OTHIC H OUSING
Semis, Terraces and Estate Houses
Chapter 4
V ICTORIAN G OTHIC D ETAILS
Doors, Windows and Decoration
Chapter 5
V ICTORIAN G OTHIC I NTERIORS
Fixtures and Fittings
 
P LACES T O V ISIT
U SEFUL W EBSITES
G LOSSARY
I NDEX
Introduction
G othic is a very potent term. It conjures up images of ruined abbeys and castles, horror stories set in misty graveyards, and intense music fans donned in long black coats. Gothic is dark, spooky and atmospheric.
However, 150 years ago it was something far more specific: a new and exciting revival of medieval architecture which displaced the foreign Classical styles as the dominant form of building. It could be colourful, moral and powerful, representing a nation’s growing stature and confidence in its indigenous history and future direction. Railway stations, churches, town halls, and the new houses of the upper and middle classes could be designed free from the rules of symmetry, with an honesty in construction and the use of the pointed arch.

FIG 0.1: A Victorian Gothic house, with labels of its key parts.
Despite the relatively short dominance of this High Victorian Gothic Revival from the late 1840s through to the early 1870s, the ideals of many of its leading lights and the new approach to architecture it initiated were to inspire the next generation of designers and sow the seeds for the later Arts and Crafts movement.
This book sets out to explain the background, introduce the most notable architects and show, using clearly labelled illustrations and my own photographs, the unique features of Gothic Revival houses. The first chapter defines the style, explains how it developed and its effect upon contemporary and later culture. The second chapter describes the finest houses and the work of the leading architects, giving a brief biography of each and examples of their work. The next chapter shows the mass-produced housing which imitated the work of these top designers, the brick semis and terraces which are the familiar face of Gothic Revival in this country. The fourth chapter is packed with photographs of key features and distinctive details which can help identify the style and assist in selecting authentic parts when renovating a house. The final part looks inside at the rooms and describes their original appearance and the style of decoration, furniture and fittings which could be found.
For anyone who simply wants to recognise the style, understand the contribution of key characters and appreciate what makes Gothic houses special, this book makes a colourful and an easy-to-follow introduction to the subject. If the reader is fortunate enough to own such a house, then the illustrations and text will hopefully enlighten them as to its value and aid any planned renovation or redecoration. For those of us who can but look on and admire, I hope the book helps clarify the true essence of the style and why it is such a unique and valuable contribution to a street, a community or even a town, one which is only now being appreciated.
Trevor Yorke www.trevoryorke.co.uk


FIG 1.1: The Gothic Revival of the 1850s and ’60s changed the face of buildings in this country. The key element of the style was the use of the pointed arch as in the different types of window and door used here at Berkhamsted Old Town Hall, Herts.
V ICTORIAN G OTHIC S TYLE

Definition and Origins
WHAT IS GOTHIC?
G othic architecture is characterised primarily by the use of the pointed arch. Although it is associated with medieval churches, abbeys and cathedrals, and the revival of this style in the 19th century which will be the focus of this book, the pointed arch is a constructional tool not restricted to these periods. As G. E. Street, one of its leading Victorian advocates stated, ‘Gothic ... is emphatically the style of the pointed arch and not of this or that nation, or of this or that age’.
However, when his generation of architects studied the buildings of Europe built from the 12th through to the 16th century they were inspired by more than just this more flexible form of arch. The fact that structural elements like buttresses were left exposed on the exterior of medieval churches and, in many cases, embellished with carvings, was an honesty in construction in stark contrast to the Classical style of buildings which was dominant in the early 19th century. The stone and brick used was left in its natural state and, if decorated, was only done so in patterns formed from different coloured types rather than the stucco-covered brick houses which imitated fine masonry in most Victorian cities. The way in which medieval builders arranged the elements of their buildings to suit the requirements of each part, with little concern for the overall appearance, inspired the Revivalists to create asymmetrical façades and free the interior from the restrictive rules of symmetry which had dominated architecture through the 18th century. Inevitably they also used many of the other details which they noted on these medieval buildings, such as battlemented walls, gable ends, pinnacles and towers, not simply copying them but adapting the forms to modern use.
This Gothic Revival from the 1840s through to the 1870s was more than just a passing fashion in building. The nation and its expanding empire were searching for an identity, one that was home-grown rather than inspired by Ancient Greece or Rome. In art and architecture they found it on their doorstep in the soaring cathedrals, colourful paintings and illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages. With the rapid changes in society and the effects of the Industrial Revolution, an enfranchised middle class growing in influence sought new moral codes and rules and through their rather rose-tinted view of medieval Britain found a time of romantic chivalry, religious adherence and honest craftsmanship. This would inspire not only the ideal Victorian family and the churches they would worship in but also the style of houses they thought fit to live in. Artists and critics began to highlight the faults with the factory system and the poor quality in the design of the goods produced. They recommended the approach of medieval craftsmen who stylised subjects rather than trying to copy them. They began to see an answer to the evils of the Industrial Age in the working practices of guilds and craftsmen from the Middle Ages, although it would not be until later in the century that the Arts and Crafts movement turned the theory into reality.

FIG 1.2: The Gothic Revival was most visible in the huge public buildings constructed in towns and city centres during this period of urban expansion, as in these examples from Liverpool, Manchester and Bradford.
Before looking at Gothic Revival architecture, the housing produced in imitation of it by builders, the characteristic details on the exterior and how it shaped the inside of the Victorian home, we need to go back and briefly explain where the style originated and why it was brought back to life.
Origins
The Romans are credited with developing the arch (the Greeks only had columns and horizontal lintels to form structures). However, the semicircular form the Romans used on their Classical buildings was limited in that to make it span a wider space it had to become higher in proportion which was often not convenient. For a bridge or wall this meant that it was usually composed of a series of small arches rather than just a few large ones. Saxon and Norman masons used the same principle in their churches and castles, with very thick walls pierced by small round arches which, although not elegant, have survived through their sheer mass of stonework.
It was only in the late 12th century that a new idea, first seen at Durham Cathedral, developed further in France, and then used by Cistercian monks in the new abbeys they were building in England, was introduced – the pointed arch. This simple device composed of two sections of a larger arch meeting at a point at the top was more flexible in that it could be made wider or thinner like a hinge, without greatly affecting the height of the structure. Its use in buildings over the following three centuries gave master masons greater freedom and, combined with the development of stone ribs, wooden trusses and external buttresses to carry the load from the roof, enabled walls to become thinner and openings larger, thus transforming the interiors of churches and cathedrals into the glorious spaces bathed in colourful light which we admire today.

FIG 1.3: Saxon and Norman masons used round arches (right) but by the early 13th century the more flexible Gothic pointed arch (left) had been adopted. Note the column on the left is thinner than the pillar in the centre as the use of trusses and buttresses meant wall thickness could be reduced.
However, on the Continent during the 15th century, architects were rediscovering the works of Classical antiquity and applying their principles to new buildings. This Renaissance which would affect all forms of art and education changed the approach to building, with the proportions and symmetry of a façade calculated on paper plans rather than scratched on a floor by experie